The Doctor Is In

[wildestmods]

Oh thank God, somebody's finally here. I've been stuck alone with those three absolute idiot magic robots for...a month? Longer? I don't even know, I lost track.

[It's not that he needs human contact. He'd been homeless for quite a while. But having his only contact be three really dumb magical robots has been driving him nuts.]

[The man that's talking to them looks to be in his forties. He's sitting at an old-fashioned desk, with his feet kicked up on it and his arms crossed. On the desk is a golden helmet, that looks like it's meant to only cover half the face.]

My name's Kent Nelson. I'm a psychiatrist. The Green ever so graciously brought me here, told me you all were coming and blah blah I was Chosen, yada yada there's a magical quest to save existence, and magically locked me in the stupid castle. I can't leave, there's a forcefield at the door that seems to be for me alone.

I'm supposed to make myself available for any of your psychiatric needs while you skip your way to Oz and since I can't even leave the damn castle, I guess that's my only option for having something to do.

[The irate expression fades a little.]

I'm trying to do good anyway, to make up for a lot of mistakes, and I am a damn good psychiatrist when I'm trying, and I intend to try. If they're forcing you all into walking to Mount Doom or what have you, it's probably not going to be easy on any of you. And given they've chosen me of all people to be your psychiatrist, I wouldn't be shocked if they picked people that were either already prone to self-destructive behaviors or pre-traumatized.

As for my credentials, I went to medical school at Ivy University, and did my residency at Johns Hopkins. Not Ivy League, but at least pretty top tier, if all that means nothing to you. I currently can't offer medical management because we're severely lacking in pharmaceuticals but I can at least offer talk therapy. I specialize in dialectal therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, with a mindfulness centered approach.

My office is located off to the right of the entrance to the kitchen. If you're worried about privacy, looks like I have some magical devices that can block sound so people outside can't hear anything said.

Oh, and to be up front about it, I do have the family ability to view people's memories. It requires eye contact. I will only use this with consent, if someone wants to directly show me a past event happened to them.

I've also seen or experienced seven shades of magical bullshit, as well as a bunch of superhero nonsense, so if you have extremely fantastical or whimsical issues, they probably won't phase me. Hell, one of my clients back home is a demon. Which is why it'd be great if you could all wrap this up as quickly as possible. I do have clients back home that I don't want to see backslide.

[He holds up the helmet.]

Normally this helmet turns me into a superhero, Doctor Fate, and lets me tap into magic. Right now, in this castle, it's about as useless as an empty tin can.

[He doesn't care about having a secret identity. He doesn't have enough of a life to ruin by not having one and his enemies tend to be magical and therefore able to figure out who his ex-wife and daughter are anyway.]

Speaking of which, if anyone thinks they can fix it, let me know. I'd be a lot more useful to you if its magic worked. If someone can jumpstart it I might be able to use its magic to leave, and do a little bibbity bobbity boo on missions with you.

That's about all I had to say. I just wanted to let everyone know I was here if they need me. I didn't choose to be here, but I am, so might as well help where I can. And wanted to see if anyone could help me with the helmet.

Feel free to ask me any questions, including "what is psychiatry?" if you don't have it back home.

Comments

cw: Rig-based psychological and physical abuse

[credit_not_blame]

[Stacia raises her hand like she's in class, keeping her expression neutral.]

Do you have any way to prove that you're acting in good faith, other than your word? The last place I was at had a head doctor, but she was an evil bitch who wanted to brainwash us into being good little worker drones, and endorsed her co-workers using electrical shocks to control us.

[May as well make herself a target. She knows if this guy goes after her, she's got back-up that will come down on him like a ton of bricks.]

[circusbat]

I can at least confirm that Doctor Fate is a hero in my world. Usually works with the Justice Society out of New York.

[Which is pretty public knowledge in his world. And Dick does know Kent.]

That said, I'm also a Gotham boy. We're not well known for our trust of psychiatrists.

[partydude]

I can also confirm that he is, in fact, a super cool wizard dude.

I mean, I've never met him or anything, but he's got that rep.

I can also confirm that psychiatrists in Gotham are crazy clown ladies and scarecrows that turn into mutant hyenas and mutant crows who then try to kill you.

[wildestmods]

That's part of why I'd never have worked there.

Potential coworkers.

[partydude]

Yeah, Gotham's weird.

[Said the giant talking turtle.]

Anyways, hi! I'm Mikey. Have you ever tried to pull a rabbit out of your helmet?

[wildestmods]

[He is not phased by the turtle boy.]

It's not that kind of magic.

[wildestmods]

If it's any consolation, I wouldn't touch Gotham with a hundred foot pole, and they'd have to pull out fingernails to get me to even consult for Arkham.

It's impossible to practice there without getting entangled with widespread institutional corruption.

[A pause.]

Also, I wouldn't want to get murdered by one of my colleagues after they suddenly decide they want to be a supervillain with a mask made of human skin.

[the_hit_list]

[ That … is a very good appraisal of Arkham Asylum. ]

Gotham’s got some up-and-coming areas now, but… Arkham isn’t one of them. They’re underfunded, and, well, you’ve seen the patients on the news. No one good wants to work there anymore.

[wildestmods]

Nobody wants to touch it. It's not even just how extreme the cases are, there are still clinicians that serve some of the more intimidating inmates at Blackgate.

The problem is there's no financial support of the institution and therefore no institutional support for the clinicians. Which means the only staff they can get is the shadiest of the shady.

Also, they need to take far more of a medical approach and combine psychiatric and purely medical therapies. I've read the case studies.

Many of the regulars there have extreme physiological changes interfering with treatment, whether they're the direct cause of their psychiatric conditions, or a complicating factor impacting quality of life. They don't just need proper psychiatric treatment, they could probably also use the help of someplace like Star Labs, to try to treat the medical conditions impeding their progress.

Someone like the Joker isn't going to respond to conventional treatments or normal psychiatric medications, he needs to be cured of the extreme alterations to his physiology first.

[the_hit_list]

They aren’t all in Arkham Asylum. Captain Boomerang is being held in Iron Heights Penitentiary.

[ Arkham is a terrible place and staffed by the useless, incompetent, or naive. They might as well install a revolving door.

It’s ridiculous that Digger Harkness is alive and Jack Drake is dead, but at least there’s an outside chance that prison will hold him. ]

All due respect, sir, but I don’t think the Joker is curable. You just have to watch the news to see that.

[wildestmods]

I'm not exactly a naive idealist but one of my clients is literal hellspawn. I still think patients should get every possible bit of help. Every so often, one of them has a breakthrough, and sometimes it's not the patient you'd expect.

Might not change anything, but I'd still be curious to see people try an angle they haven't yet. I haven't seen anything in the journals to indicate that Gotham's done any serious medical interventions on the conditions of most of their patients.

Don't think they care enough to.

But it's still something I'd like to see. If it helps even one of them it'd be worth it.

[There are not many people that care about causes that hopeless, but why not? He's a pretty hopeless cause himself.]

[wildestmods]

Can't blame you for the latter.

AS for the former...

You would think they'd let me have access to my extremely magical helmet.

[He briefly punches the bridge of his nose.]

Never would've pegged mystical entities of magical destiny as the type to value mental health over extreme reserves of magical power, but here we are.

I don't get it. It's not like I can't be Doctor Fate and your staff psychiatrist.

[credit_not_blame]

Yeah, but anyone can claim to be Joe-Q-Dude-With-A-Mask if they've got a good enough replica. Especially when magic's involved; magic can do a lot of stuff. Do you know Kent Nelson too?

[circusbat]

[Dick's eyes narrow thoughtfully, as though he's trying to place the name. Though it isn't quite that.]

[Kent's identity was never really public, though Dick knows his identity through friendships with the JSA and his membership in the JLA. He trusts the man (even if he'll probably never grace his doorway), and people should know that he's safe.]

[Which is why he nods slowly.] I do. Took a minute to remember, but while I'm not from New York, I know people there. I heard good things about Dr. Nelson.

[Of course, even admitting that much, and having admitted to being from Gotham? Well, it isn't impossible that Kent Nelson could put together Gotham and 'handsome man with black hair and blue eyes' to get some names.

[credit_not_blame]

Okay, that's at least one person who can vouch for him to a degree. That's positive.

[Assuming team Suspicious Bastards trusts the ex-cop.]

[wildestmods]

[There is no going after her. If anything, instead of being offended at her worrying he's evil, he looks more sympathetic.]

Even if I usually don't deal with it at that kind of extreme, institutional betrayal trauma is pretty common among patients. The healthcare system, especially psychiatric care in facilities, can sometimes victimize patients more than help them. I fully expect that it'll take time to earn trust.

Since they didn't exactly spit out my diploma with me, all I can say is that therapy doesn't have to be instantly digging into your deepest traumas. Sometimes it's about dealing with smaller issues, smoothing down life's rough edges. Interpersonal issues, minor anxieties, trying to create structure to function in a new environment, things like that.

I'll be around so you can get to know me. And if you want to start with smaller problems than deep traumas, so you can see that I'm asking the right questions and trying to help you find the right insight, we can do that too.

If you need to, we can take it slow, and you can dip your toes in the water first with issues that won't give me access to anything that can be used to really hurt you. So you can check out my methods and make sure they're aligned with normal therapeutic standards.

[credit_not_blame]

[That is a Correct Answer. If he'd gotten defensive, it would have been a sign that he was less trustworthy than he should have been given what he's supposedly here to do.]

[Stacia's fucked up and she knows it, she doesn't know a single person who's come in contact with Garou culture and wasn't fucked up by it. But there are people here who have very good reason to be wary of the kind of care Kent is meant to provide, and if she asks the questions, they don't have to.]

I suppose that's as much reassurance as you can offer without access to your Yelp review page. I'll come by and trauma dump on you at some point; I haven't slept through the night without magical intervention since I was fifteen.

[wildestmods]

I'll be here. I'm willing to take on anyone willing to do the work, and since most of it is up to you, you get to decide how it starts and where it goes.

[credit_not_blame]

I'm good at doing the work. Maybe I'll burn myself out in a few years and have to recalibrate things, but I'm young enough yet to fuel my efforts with caffeine and spite.

[Plus, he won't be able to undermine her reputation back home with any of the things she's done. He might be horrified by the things she's done, but it won't go further than him, or other people in the group if he's particularly unethical.]

[...Hm, maybe she should start with something horrifying, see if he'll break confidentiality. It'd be good to know for the others.]

[ahelpingpaw]

Therapy...

[.......

Welp, maybe...that'd be good. He has a lot tumbling around in his head, and although he's surprisingly sturdy and not prone to self-destructive behaviors, it all does hit him hard and his personality makes him never stop thinking about it.

Maybe it'd do him some good. Worth a try, no?]

I'm...not saying I'm gonna go, but, um, if someone wanted... [Yeah, he's kind of embarrassed about this, like the others will judge if he went to talk with the psychiatrist] ...if someone wanted to go see you, well, would they have to make an appointment or...something?

[wildestmods]

[He looks utterly unphased by the fact he's being asked questions by a muppet.]

If I'm available at that moment, we could do an appointment right away. I don't expect to get instantly booked up by clients.

But yes, we can also make an appointment if you want a specific time. I think this place actually has clocks.

[ahelpingpaw]

[Bless all these people who can look at him and not even blink, that's always such a welcome thing for him, haha]

G-Great! I'll...tell a friend who probably needs that, I suppose.

[Having said that Filbo just leaves the network. Oh, good to know just walking in is an option. Knowing himself, if he postpones it too much he probably would undo the appointment somehow. Better to just burst in and try to get it done before he can regret it]

[wisdomreceiver]

Uh, yeah, I've got a question. How can you tell if someone has schizophrenia if the world they are from is...Warped, but...Only in their house where they live alone? And they don't go out.

[...This is gonna be a long therapy session, isn't it?]

[wildestmods]

I think under the current circumstances, I'd test them diagnostically based on whether or not they're suffering the symptoms in this universe.

What's happening around us is at least verifiable by other people witnessing the same thing. If the teacups talk only to that individual, it might be hallucinations. If the teacups talk to everyone, it's just the stupid castle.

There's enough that solid and real, even if it's fantastical, to check to see their perceptions are assessing their surroundings correctly.

If it turns out they're schizophrenic here, it may mean they also are back home. If they're asymptomatic here, the things happening back home may be objective reality.

[wisdomreceiver]

Ah. That's good to know.

[Henry himself has shown signs of so many things that everyone who met him growing up always seemed to suggest that 'something ain't right with that boy'. It was an exaggeration...At first, then waters became murkier than that.]

[slowmotionbuscrash]

Oh, no no no no no. NOPE. I'm not living in the robot-staffed "castle" where the only human employee is a "doctor" and I don't CARE if the Elves and the Green were like "wow it has beds you'll love it".

Fuck, how is this worse than getting chased through the desert?

[wildestmods]

Therapy only works for people ready and willing to do the work. And sometimes that's not possible right away - or at all - if they've had bad experiences with practitioners before.

I can accept that. I'm here if people need or want me, but whether they do is up to them.

If you're not comfortable booking a session the worst you'll have to deal with when it comes to me is me stealing the last of whatever coffee we ever manage to have on hand.

[He's not forcing anybody.]

[slowmotionbuscrash]

We don’t have any coffee, so lemme know how that works for you.

[poor_unlucky_girl]

[Jennifer raises her hand like she's in school when the Doctor encourages asking questions.]

If you can't leave, how do you go to the toilet?

[Yes, Jen, that's the focus of this introduction.]

Do you want us to bring you a bucket?